Who’s the bigot?

Merriam-Webster’s Online Dictionary Definition:

a person obstinately or intolerantly devoted to his or her own opinions and prejudices ; especially : one who regards or treats the members of a group (as a racial or ethnic group) with hatred and intolerance

I hear this term thrown around quite a bit nowadays.  Especially after the voters passed Proposition 8 in California and now with Obama asking Rick Warren to give the inaugural prayer.

New Year’s Resolution

1 Corinthians 9:26-27 (ESV)

²⁶ So I do not run aimlessly; I do not box as one beating the air.

²⁷ But I discipline my body and keep it under control, lest after preaching to others I myself should be disqualified.

New Year’s resolutions…I make them each year, always with good intentions.  Sometimes I do well and keep some of them, usually by March I am back doing what I resolved not to do in January.

One of my regular resolutions is to do a better job exercising.  I like exercising actually.  The problem is finding the time to do it right.  If I’m just jogging for 20 minutes on the treadmill I don’t feel like I’m doing enough, so I often don’t bother at all.  It doesn’t make much sense, I know.

Moving to Wordpress...

I am in the process of moving Seeking Above to Wordpress.  So, if you try to find me and you get a "blogger not found" message or something similar, it will mean that the transfer is in progress so I might be down for a day or two.

If you do find this site down, you should still be able to get to it at www.seekingabove.blogspot.com until I get the move completed.

I'll post more on why I'm making the move later - probably on Life in Obama Land.

The Christmas Story

This is the Christmas story we started telling as a family together last year.  I wrote it because I wanted to share the gospel with my brother and his girlfriend.  However, I shared it again this year with just my wife and kids after we lit the Christ advent candle and sang some carols as a family.  I look forward to this being a tradition each year.

______________________________________________________________

What is the true meaning of Christmas?

Most people if asked can tell you that the Christmas tradition started as a celebration of the birth of Jesus.

Luke 2:4-14 (ESV)
⁴ And Joseph also went up from Galilee, from the town of Nazareth, to Judea, to the city of David, which is called Bethlehem, because he was of the house and lineage of David,
⁵ to be registered with Mary, his betrothed, who was with child.
⁶ And while they were there, the time came for her to give birth.
⁷ And she gave birth to her firstborn son and wrapped him in swaddling cloths and laid him in a manger, because there was no place for them in the inn.
⁸ And in the same region there were shepherds out in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night.
⁹ And an angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were filled with fear.
¹⁰ And the angel said to them, "Fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of a great joy that will be for all the people.
¹¹ For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord.
¹² And this will be a sign for you: you will find a baby wrapped in swaddling cloths and lying in a manger."
¹³ And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying,
¹⁴ "Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace among those with whom he is pleased!"

What does this really mean? Why celebrate the birth of a Jesus, 2000 years ago.

“I proclaim to you good news of great joy that will be for all the people”

Was this birth really good news and a great joy for everyone?

“Glory to God in the highest heaven, and peace on earth to people He favors!”

Where is this peace on earth and who are these people God favors?

The birth of Jesus is only part of the story. The story begins at the beginning of time and the story ends everyday, with each of us.

In the beginning:

Genesis 3:1-7 (ESV)
¹ Now the serpent was more crafty than any other beast of the field that the Lord God had made. He said to the woman, "Did God actually say, 'You shall not eat of any tree in the garden'?"
² And the woman said to the serpent, "We may eat of the fruit of the trees in the garden,
³ but God said, 'You shall not eat of the fruit of the tree that is in the midst of the garden, neither shall you touch it, lest you die.' "
⁴ But the serpent said to the woman, "You will not surely die.
⁵ For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil."
⁶ So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate, and she also gave some to her husband who was with her, and he ate.
⁷ Then the eyes of both were opened, and they knew that they were naked. And they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves loincloths.

One day, while still in paradise, while there truly was peace on earth and goodwill towards all men, Adam and Eve made a choice.

Their choice was to believe a snake, the snake, Satan. The lie was that they could be like God. Adam and Eve, innocent from creation, chose sin over God. They chose death over life.

God told Adam and Eve they could have anything they wanted, just not the fruit of this one tree. Just one rule, one decision and they chose to disobey.

If God knows everything, why did He give them this one rule He knew they could not follow?

Because God is love and God desires love from us. However, love is a choice. We cannot love if we do not have a choice.

So what does Adam and Eve’s mistake have to do with you and me?

We too have choices, everyday. We too make the wrong choices.

Romans 3:9-18 (ESV)
⁹ What then? Are we Jews any better off? No, not at all. For we have already charged that all, both Jews and Greeks, are under sin,
¹⁰ as it is written: "None is righteous, no, not one;
¹¹ no one understands; no one seeks for God.
¹² All have turned aside; together they have become worthless; no one does good, not even one."
¹³ "Their throat is an open grave; they use their tongues to deceive." "The venom of asps is under their lips."
¹⁴ "Their mouth is full of curses and bitterness."
¹⁵ "Their feet are swift to shed blood;
¹⁶ in their paths are ruin and misery,
¹⁷ and the way of peace they have not known."
¹⁸ "There is no fear of God before their eyes."

Romans 3:23 (ESV)
²³ for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,

We all know we’re not perfect. However, most of believe that we’re not all bad either.

One mistake and we’re out?

The truth is God is a God of judgment. He is holy and perfect and he cannot accept anything that is not holy and not perfect. However, God is also a God of mercy and love.

From the beginning, God made a promise to Adam and Eve that he had a plan to undo their bad decision.

Genesis 3:15 (ESV)
¹⁵ I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring; he shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel."

God’s curse of the snake is His promise to us that one will come that will crush the head of Satan, the deceiver.

Adam and Eve messed up. However, we all mess up. None of us are perfect. We all fall short of God. We all have the same consequence given to Adam and Eve.

Death. Not a physical death, although we all physically die, but a death of our spirit. Death by separation from God.

However, the God of mercy and love has a plan.

Romans 6:23 (ESV)
²³ For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

John 3:16 (ESV)
¹⁶ "For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.

The baby’s birth we celebrate on Christmas is this Jesus. The Son of God sent to undo our bad choices and allow us to once again be good with God.

However, this is only half the story.

Who is this Jesus? What is it about him that makes us good with God?

John 14:6-11 (ESV)
⁶ Jesus said to him, "I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.
⁷ If you had known me, you would have known my Father also. From now on you do know him and have seen him."
⁸ Philip said to him, "Lord, show us the Father, and it is enough for us."
⁹ Jesus said to him, "Have I been with you so long, and you still do not know me, Philip? Whoever has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, 'Show us the Father'?
¹⁰ Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me? The words that I say to you I do not speak on my own authority, but the Father who dwells in me does his works.
¹¹ Believe me that I am in the Father and the Father is in me, or else believe on account of the works themselves.

Who was this Jesus? He was and He is the Son of God but even more that that, He is God.

The wages of sin is death. God is a God of mercy and love, however, the price of sin must still be paid.

The rest of the Christmas story is how God paid the price for us.

Jesus, the Son of God, Jesus, God in the flesh paid the price for the sin of Adam, for your sins, for my sins.

Matthew 27:27-35 (ESV)
²⁷ Then the soldiers of the governor took Jesus into the governor's headquarters, and they gathered the whole battalion before him.
²⁸ And they stripped him and put a scarlet robe on him,
²⁹ and twisting together a crown of thorns, they put it on his head and put a reed in his right hand. And kneeling before him, they mocked him, saying, "Hail, King of the Jews!"
³⁰ And they spit on him and took the reed and struck him on the head.
³¹ And when they had mocked him, they stripped him of the robe and put his own clothes on him and led him away to crucify him.
³² As they went out, they found a man of Cyrene, Simon by name. They compelled this man to carry his cross.
³³ And when they came to a place called Golgotha (which means Place of a Skull),
³⁴ they offered him wine to drink, mixed with gall, but when he tasted it, he would not drink it.
³⁵ And when they had crucified him, they divided his garments among them by casting lots.

Jesus was not just killed. He was tortured and mocked, whipped and nailed to a cross.

Why?

Because of me. Because of you.

Why is it we celebrate the birth of Jesus, the Son of God who we then tortured and nailed to a cross?

Mark 16:1-7 (ESV)
¹ When the Sabbath was past, Mary Magdalene and Mary the mother of James and Salome bought spices, so that they might go and anoint him.
² And very early on the first day of the week, when the sun had risen, they went to the tomb.
³ And they were saying to one another, "Who will roll away the stone for us from the entrance of the tomb?"
⁴ And looking up, they saw that the stone had been rolled back— it was very large.
⁵ And entering the tomb, they saw a young man sitting on the right side, dressed in a white robe, and they were alarmed.
⁶ And he said to them, "Do not be alarmed. You seek Jesus of Nazareth, who was crucified. He has risen; he is not here. See the place where they laid him.
⁷ But go, tell his disciples and Peter that he is going before you to Galilee. There you will see him, just as he told you."

Why do we celebrate Christmas?

We celebrate Christmas because in spite of our own selfishness, God had a plan.

We failed but Jesus paid the price.

How do we know it is paid? Because He conquered death and rose again.

This is the Christmas story.

Love is a choice.

Adam and Eve chose to believe the devil over God.

We choose everyday to do things our way rather than God’s way.

God still chose to die for us.

Now the choice is ours again.

We can choose to believe this Christmas story and choose life. We can choose to believe the good news and have God’s joy and peace. We can choose to be favored by God.

And we can choose not to believe.

I choose life. I choose Jesus as Lord. I choose to believe the good news and accept God’s joy, peace and favor.

What do you choose?

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas World

It’s Christmas time again.  My kids are excited.  The youngest are expecting Santa to bring some great presents.  My oldest knows the scoop on Santa but there is still excitement about a celebration that includes presents.

The Christmas Song

My son wrote another song…I need to get this recorded so I can share the tune as well.

You’re beautiful.

You’re Glorious.

You’re Wonderful.

You came to save us.

You’re the Prince of Peace.

Above all things,

You’re the Lord of Lords.

You’re the King of Kings.

You’re the mighty God.

Emanuel.

The Messiah.

You make all things well.

Born in a manger,

With shepherds at your side.

Three rich kings,

On December twenty five.

Frankincense so sweet,

Gold so bright,

Myrrh in a box,

Under that big star’s light

You’re beautiful.

You’re Glorious.

You’re Wonderful.

You're Jesus!

Bowl Season Blues

I love college football.  I think it’s because I went to school at Texas A&M and it’s hard not to fall in love with the spirit and rich tradition there.  I’ll watch pro football as well.  I’ll root for the Houston Texans but it’s not the same as the Aggies.

On the twelfth day of Christmas

My true love gave to me, a goat?

How about an Ipod, a new outfit, or even a new tie, but a goat?  This is one of the things our family did this year.  We decided to give a goat through World Vision.  It’s an extremely modest gift really.  $75 doesn’t compare to what we spend on ourselves.

I wrote a post about the Advent Conspiracy back in June or July.  At the time I was seriously contemplating doing away with all expensive and material gifts at Christmas.  In the end, we made lots of reductions and the decision to focus on others during Christmas, but we weren’t ready to go cold turkey yet.

It was really fun going through the World Vision catalog as a family and picking out a gift to give away through their program.  I think this is a new family tradition in our home.

We also decided to start a new birthday tradition.  Each of us gets to choose a World Vision gift for their birthday.  We give a World Vision gift of their choosing, in their name, up to a certain amount.  The birthday person then adds to that if they want to do something even bigger.

My daughter has a December birthday so she chose another goat but the one she chose includes an extra $25 that goes where it can have the most impact.  For the extra donation she’ll get a stuffed goat that will remind her of the needs around the world every time she holds it.

My son has a birthday in January and he is busily working out his list to figure out his World Vision gift.  It’s great to see the kids just as excited about these gifts as any material gift for themselves.

Remember whose birthday it is this week.  Open your hearts and give to those that have little or none.  Be a wise man, and lay your gifts at the feet of Jesus.

Matthew 2:11 (ESV)

¹¹ And going into the house they saw the child with Mary his mother, and they fell down and worshiped him. Then, opening their treasures, they offered him gifts, gold and frankincense and myrrh.

Waiting for a message

Our family has been in the adoption process since about October.  We already have four beautiful biological children but we wanted to share our family and our love with a child that otherwise would be without a family.

We’ve been through the process of deciding domestic or international, country of origin, and agency.  We’ve completed an in depth application with lots of questions about our motivation and heart as parents and as people.  We’ve spent hours with a social worker, hours completing a workbook and hours taking online educational courses on adoption.  Lastly, we’ve completed our dossier.

Well…almost.

As part of the background checks, Ethiopia requires a background check from every country that we may have lived since we were eighteen.  I happened to have lived in the Republic of Panama between the ages of 17-20, twenty five years ago.

In case you are not current on your Panamanian history, the government in place twenty five years ago no longer exists.

Fortunately, the US Embassy in Panama was able to declare that my background is clear and they promised to send us a letter stating that fact, about a week ago.

Now we wait.  It’s only been a week, but in the age of email and instant communication, it feels as if they sent the letter via a bottle tossed into the ocean for the waves to carry it here.

I know there will be lots more waiting as we go through this process.  Once the dossier is ready, we’ll need to wait for our agency to approve it.  After the agency approval, we need to wait for Ethiopia to approve the paperwork and approve us a fit parents.  Then we wait for a child to be referred to us.  And finally, we wait again for the Ethiopian courts to process the adoption.

We obviously had plenty of waiting with all of our biological children as well.  However, I could place my hand on my wife’s stomach and feel our child.  Our new child is thousands of miles away.  The wait is longer when you can’t see what is happening.

It’s like standing on the beach, looking out into the vast ocean, waiting for an expected message in a bottle.

Auto Bailout – Good Idea?

Tis’ the season.  If you’re a bank, insurance firm, and now car manufacturer, it appears that Uncle Sam has a present for you.  The best part - it doesn’t matter if your naughty or nice – or competent.

Living in Obama Land

I’ve kind of run into a rut with my posting here at Seeking Above.  So, I’ve started a new blog, Living in Obama Land.  I’m not abandoning Seeking Above, just trying something a little different.

Living in Obama Land is my attempt at “contextualized” blogging evangelism.  What that means is that I’ll be posting from a Christian world view but hopefully on topics that interest those that may have a secular world view.

Check out my first post, Auto Bailout - Good Idea or Bad Idea as well as my What's this blog about page.


P.S. I'm trying Wordpress on Obama Land.

Open Mouth, Insert Foot

(by Mandy)

It's official!

We had our first "Brad and Angelina" comment this past weekend.

I did not get offended or give a sarcastic response. I was really pretty shocked that someone would even think of that. It's just funny that anyone would look at a family that is adopting from Africa and think of it as following a trend. And then actually say it!

When I think of following a trend, I think more along the lines of Chuck Taylor shoes, Twilight books, and... I can't even think of anything else because I really don't pay that much attention.

One thing I don't think of is adopting a child. Following a trend is something that takes no commitment. Even the fashion experts advise us not to spend too much money on trendy accessories because they are not going to last.

Adopting a child is permanent. Our hearts are committed to a child we have not met. This decision was covered in prayer. It affects every member of our family - plus this little guy. We would all be crushed if something happened and it did not work out.

I don't need to defend myself against this comment. I was just surprised anyone would say that. Hopefully, it was just a bad joke. This person does not know us very well, but I would not like to be thought of as someone who would adopt a child so our family can look cool.

Remember - I'm already Hipp.

Faith and Doubts

If you are a believer in Jesus, do you ever doubt your faith?  If you doubt, does that mean you don't really have a saving faith or that your faith is weak?

I've had this discussion a couple of times with my ten year-old son.  He has been raised in a Christian home.  He accepted Jesus as his Lord and Savior when he was five.  This is young, but he has always been a very thoughtful boy and he was serious about this decision.  It was my blessing to be able to baptize him and a couple of years later his younger sister.

Now that my son is older, he's thinking more about his faith and what he believes.  Some things in the bible sound a little far out.  Once you learn that Santa Claus is just a nice story, you start to question other stories you've been taught, even ones you're taught in church.  So one night my son comes to me, with tears in his eyes, wondering if he can really be a Christian if he has these doubts.



I told my son, if he has doubts, he needs to seek out answers.  Like I said, my son is a very thoughtful young man.  I had to answer questions like,

Why did God create Satan if he knew he would rebel and be evil?

If I am saved and have the Holy Spirit in me, why do I still lose my patience with my little brothers and sisters and do mean things to them?

These are just a couple samplings.  I thank God for His Spirit to help me as a field these tough questions.  Amazingly enough, these types of questions will often come after I have studied a similar topic or listened to a teacherpreacher like John Piper talk about them.  I don't always give a great answer.  Piper makes answers to these types of questions seem so logical but they are much tougher when talking about them with your ten year-old son.

However, the best answer I gave my son was to take his doubts to God.  Read his bible, pray, but most importantly, remember what he knows to be true.  He has some great anchors of God working in his life to hold on to.  I wrote about one of these experiences this past spring.

My son is working out his faith.  He is so much further ahead of me than where I was at his age, in some ways, further than I am now.  It's scary for a father to watch his son work through his doubts?  What if he chooses not to believe?  All I can do is love him, teach him, lead by example, and be honest when I fail in my own faith.  God has to do the rest.  My son's faith is ultimately between him and God.

I was inspired to write this post because of a story I read about a man that has lost his faith.  You can read Dan's story here.  I don't believe anyone can snatch any believer from Jesus (John 10:28-29).  When I read Dan's story, it sure sounds like Dan had a saving faith, so how could he have lost it?  I don't know.  I don't know what was really in Dan's heart before and I don't know what is really there now.  Was he never really saved?  Or is he just now in a dark valley where he will eventually emerge more confident than ever in his faith?

That's not the point of Dan's story.  The point is how he claims his wife and his pastor have responded to his story.  The response he describes is tragic and it's not how Jesus would call us to respond.  I'm not assuming Dan's story is true and I'm not assuming it's false.  I don't personally know any of those involved.  However, it is a story we all need to pray about.

Pray for Dan and that while he believes he has turned his back on Jesus, that he learns that Jesus will never turn his back on him.

Pray for Dan's wife and their children.  Whether these accusations are true or false and whether Dan ever comes back to the Lord or not, this experience their family is suffering through is heart wrenching.

Pray for Dan's church and community, for those that know Christ can respond in love and those that do not know Jesus will see a response in love where it appears love has been lacking.

Pray for yourself and your family.  Pray that God will give you the faith and wisdom to not fear your doubts but to embrace your doubts as you work out your faith and seek Him who promises to answer (Luke 11:9-10).

Who is your neighbor?

Back in July I wrote a post expressing my frustration with myself for not loving my neighbor as myself.  Here is a follow-up post as I continue to work through this problem as I seek to work out my faith.

In my previous post I wrote about wanting to pray for a dying co-worker but in a short time forgetting about him as I got caught up in my own life again.

This is not an isolated incident. I often have great intentions of praying for others and serving those in need. However, in spite of my best intentions, my life is usually wrapped up around me. It’s hard to love your neighbor when you don’t even think of your neighbor.

It’s not a lack of desire. I want to love others. The problem is how I perceive love. Like most people, when I try to love others, I try to “feel” love for them before I “act” with love for them.

Jesus explained this to his disciples when he gave them a new command.

John 13:34 (ESV)

³⁴ A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another

Jesus, the rabbi whom these men had given up all to follow for the past three years had just washed their filthy feet. This was a job for a servant, not a teacher, not their Lord. However, Jesus was teaching them and teaching us, how to love.

Love is serving others. Love is putting others needs before your own. Love is not merely an emotion although there may be no emotion stronger. However emotions are fickle, the action of love is real.

Calling my sick co-worker to check on him was nice. It was a step in the right direction but it was a very guarded step. When I asked if there was anything I could do for him, I was relieved when he said he did not need anything. Really, a dying man, whom I am fairly confident did not know Jesus, does not need anything?

I accepted his answer because I was afraid not to. Isn’t that one of the main reasons that even though we want to love, we don’t. Acts of love on our part often open our hearts to more than we dare let in.

We all know the story of the Good Samaritan (Luke 10:25-37). I think we hear that story and we tell ourselves that if we come across someone dying in the street that we will stop and help. Well, people are suffering and dying all around us. Sometimes we have to cross the street (or the tracks) to find them.

You may not know anyone dying of AIDS, but they are there. You may not know anyone homeless and starving, but they are there. You may not know any scared unmarried teenage mothers or mothers to be, but they are there. They are there, waiting to be loved, fed, and comforted. Where are you?

You don’t have to wait to stumble across someone dying in the road. You don’t have to wait for a co-worker to get sick and die. The time to love your neighbor, your enemy, and the stranger is now. If you wait to “feel” the love, it will never happen. I know...

What made you choose Ethiopia?

This is a common question my wife and I are asked when we share with people that we are in the process of adopting.  I wonder sometimes if there is a question behind the question.  However, I'm sure in most cases it is really an inquisitive question.  Why choose an international adoption over domestic?  Why Africa instead of Eastern Europe or China?

The reason I often give for Ethiopia is that it's one of the poorest countries, so if we're going to help somewhere, why not where it is needed the most.  I then explain how there may be countries where the need is greater but that Ethiopia is also one of the more adoption friendly countries, at least for now (this can change at anytime with international adoptions).

However, as our family has studied more about Ethiopia, I've come to realize that I am really becoming enamored with this country.  It's a country with a rich Christian heritage to go along with it's great African heritage.  It's a country of great beauty as are many countries in Africa.  It's a country with a proud history of royalty dating back to King Solomon (yep - Israel's Solomon) and the Queen of Sheba.

A lot of countries have a great history and culture.  So why has Ethiopia's warmed my heart so much?

Because this is my son's country and his heritage.  That's why I love it.

I can't explain what has happened over the last couple of weeks.  But I've started to feel my new son inside of me.  I have an excitement growing as if my wife was pregnant (I know this feeling as we have four birth children).  We have not even been referred to a child, but I know God has him set aside for us already.  I can feel it.  I couldn't feel it when we started this process, but I can feel it today.

I have a new answer whenever someone asks me why we chose Ethiopia.  We chose Ethiopia because that's where our son is from.  Where else would we choose?

Remember the Refugee

A little boy is squatting with his brother and sister outside of the small hut-style home.  They are playing a local village game, laughing and giggling.  Suddenly their mother comes running over to them, "Come quickly! We must go now!  The soldiers are coming."

The children are confused.  Where is their father?  When can they finish their game?  When will they go back home?

What if this was your child?  What if this was your family?  What if you had to run and leave home, and leave everything behind?

We've seen this even in our own country after natural disasters.  However, we've never seen this where we had to leave because either the government or rebels where killing those that stayed behind.

There are around 11.4 million refugee's in the world today.  Most of these men, women, and children have been forced to leave their homes and possessions.  They have nothing but maybe what they were able to carry.  Many of them are in warehouse type camps where they have no rights and survive only on what compassion their host country or charitable organizations provide.  In many cases, they have no hope, as they have been displaced for years.  They are foreigners, but not by of their own choice.

Unfortunately, many of us are desynthesized to the plight of these people.  We quickly click through the news flashes if they get much coverage.  It's part of the fallen world we live in.  What can I do anyway?

You can get involved (from www.refugee.com).

• Sign up to receive our Bulletin


• If you represent an organization, endorse the Statement Calling for Solutions to End the Warehousing of Refugees


• If you are a refugee, write to share your experience of warehousing with us and others


• Link this page to your personal or professional website
  (http://www.refugees.org/warehousing)


• Donate to the Anti-Warehousing Campaign


• Write to Members of Congress to make the U.S. Millennium Challenge Account refugee-friendly!

Deuteronomy 10:18-19 (ESV)
¹⁸ He executes justice for the fatherless and the widow, and loves the sojourner, giving him food and clothing. ¹⁹ Love the sojourner, therefore, for you were sojourners in the land of Egypt.

Care for the refugees because if you are in Christ, you are one too in this this world.

Why I'm still on the right

In many elections it is not surprising how people vote.  There are usually one or two key issues that people cling to and that sets their political mind set.  There is nothing wrong with that.  The reality is that there are so many issues with no real right or wrong  perspective that very few of us can all agree on every issue.  That's why our party specific primary elections can often be divisive.

In past elections, many Christians have tended to vote more conservatively because in general (not in all cases) the conservative platforms include moral positions that more align with a biblical perspective.  However, I have noticed a shift in that thinking among some Christians.  It's not a shift away from biblical perspectives but more a shift in which biblical perspectives cause more conviction in their political view.

Here's my attempt of an analysis of this shift and why I haven't shifted.  I'm going to be speaking in general terms so forgive me if I appear to be using a brush that is too broad.  However, I want to keep this thought process simple.

As mentioned in my previous post, a couple of the major moral political issues today are abortion and government recognition of gay marriages.  These issues have tended to pull Christians to the Republican side of the political spectrum because many Republican candidates take the pro-life and pro-heterosexual marriage platform stance.  There are also other biblical perspective issues such as the sovereignty of Israel but that issue tends to be less divisive across political lines.

Today, I think these two moral political hot topics are starting to take a back seat to another important moral political issue, which is injustice.  Christians see the injustice of the poor and the persecuted and they want justice.  This is an important biblical perspective and valuable morally political issue to address.

This is where the political shift has started to occur for many Christians.  The Republican party is pro-business.  By that I mean it's overall position is that the market will keep business in check, there needs to be very little if any governmental regulations over business.

The problem is that the goal for most successful businesses is to make a profit.  Greed becomes the god of many corporations.  Success is measured by revenue growth.  This is obviously not a biblical perspective (Matt 6:24, Luke 16:13).  Over the past decade we have seen the results of this greed with the likes of Enron and others.

Another important injustice issue outside of economics is the real issue of prejudice.  The big areas of concern in our country today are racial prejudice and sexual orientation prejudice.  I think prejudice crosses party lines but unfortunately more openly prejudice groups are identified as "on the right" politically.

Christian conservatives are often labeled as prejudice against gay and lesbians because of their belief that the Bible clearly labels this lifestyle as a sin.  Unfortunately, this perspective of this conservative Christian viewpoint is again a stereotype because some Christians address this issue in a non-Christian and hateful manner.

The abortion issue has also started to give way to injustice perspectives.  It is not that Christians that vote for the democratic ticket want to see babies killed.  It's that the pro-life movement is often perceived as a "persecuting" movement against the woman in crises.

These are the shifts I see in the Christian political perspective.  However, I still find myself on the conservative side of the equation for the reasons to follow.  I may not be seeing these perspectives correctly so if you are a Christian on the more liberal side of the political spectrum, please comment on this post.

I too am very concerned about the injustices in this world.  I believe that as a follower of Jesus I should fight the battle against these injustices.  However, as the title of this post indicates, I have not shifted my political position to the left with some of my brothers and sisters in Christ that have the same passion against injustice as I do.

Why?

Because I do not think that a political party or any government can or will address the injustices in this world.  Jesus never called a political movement to address the injustices of this world.  He called us, His followers, to address the injustices.  When we depend on the government we end up with communism on the left and fascist dictatorships on the right.

You cannot address the injustice of the poor by trying to redistribute the wealth.  The injustice to the poor is the lack of compassion for the poor.   The injustice of the poor will not be addressed until hearts of those with the wealth are changed.

The problem with trying to regulate compassion is that those in power in the government are just as much sinners as those they are trying to regulate.  Why do we have our current financial crises in this country?  We tried to regulate compassion by providing housing for those that could not afford it.  However, those in charge of the program were greedy and sought their own wealth at the expense of the rest of us.

What is a Christian then to do politically?  Give up?  Never.  I believe as Christians we are to engage our world, so that means we have to engage politically.  My dilemma then is how do I choose between worldly (imperfect) ideologies.  I try to keep it simple.

Abortion is wrong.  God ordains life prior to conception (Psalm 139:13-16).  We have no right to terminate a life that God has ordained.  There are lots of deep arguments that could be made about rape and incest victims but that is not the political issue today.  President-elect Obama was quoted saying he would not want his daughters punished with a baby for making a moral mistake.  While this comment was off the cuff and maybe not how he really wanted to state it, that is the real issue.  Abortion is used today to undue a mistake, at the cost of an innocent baby's life.

As a Christian, I should actively pray and work for the women that find themselves in crises of a pregnancy and no means to support the child as well as pray and work to support those mothers and children when the child is born.  However, I cannot vote for a candidate that supports abortion as an option.

While Jesus never personally addressed the homosexual issue in the Gospels, Paul certainly lists homosexual actions along with other sinful actions (Romans 1:26, 1 Cor 6:9-11) .  Homosexual actions are also directly denounced in the Old Testament  (Leviticus 18:22, 20:13).

As a Christian, I should love my neighbor, including my gay and lesbian neighbors.  I cannot view their sin as any worse than my own sins.  However, I cannot condone their sin anymore than I can condone my own sin.  I cannot agree with a worldly political movement to condone the homosexual lifestyle as normal and God ordained.

As a Christian, I should give freely to those in need.  This is not just tithing to my church but giving wherever there is a need and not just money, but my time and my heart as well.  The government can't regulate this.  We know from our own welfare system and the socialist policies in many European countries that when the government tries to regulate giving (i.e. redistribution of  wealth) it does not fix poverty but creates dependency on the government.  Dependency on the government leads to an ever increasing size of government.

Christians in corporate America should live out their Christian faith.  They should work hard and voluntarily serve others in need with money and their time.  Government regulation can be a knee-jerk response to corrupt business practices that negatively hurts honest companies and the people that work for those companies.  Corrupt businesses will usually fail on their own in a free market.  In a government regulated market, corruption is protected (i.e. see Fannie Mae and Freddy Mac).

Make no mistake about it.  While Christ's Kingdom on earth has started, this physical world is still ruled by Satan (Matt 4:8-9, Eph 6:12).  Big government, either or the left or on the right, will never do the work that needs to be done by those that belong to the Kingdom of God.

There will be a government that will one day rule this earth with justice.  However, that ruler is Jesus when he returns.  Until he comes, I need to keep my spiritual passion deep and seek the Kingdom of God and it's justice, but I need to keep my worldly political perspectives simple, which for me if on on the right of center, rather than on the left.

Finally, once the votes are casts, God's will be done.  I congratulate President-elect Obama.  I will pray for him and our country and seek God's Kingdom regardless of which way our country's political winds blow.

Romans 13:1 (ESV)

¹ Let every person be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and those that exist have been instituted by God.

Election Victory Guaranteed

On Tuesday our country will elect a new president.  Some think that this election will be a landslide. Some predict a closer election and maybe even an upset.  Whoever wins, about half the country will be upset.

We live in a state between discontent and fear.  Discontent because gas prices are too high, stock prices are too low, and the war in the middle east has gone on too long.  Fear because change is not always for the better.

I once had a discussion with a co-worker over whether or not religion and politics should be mixed.  I think as a Christian, you cannot compartmentalize your faith and separate it from your political decisions.  More important than foreign and economic policies are the spiritual policies that matter to God.

This makes voting for a president very difficult.  As a Christian, you want a president that seeks God's heart but in American politics, the game is about rhetoric, not about things of the heart, especially things on God's heart.

There are political issues that Christians rally around, such as abortion and same sex marriage.  In that respect, many Christians vote for the candidate that takes a stand against these two practices.  Personally, I use this same litmus test, particularly in regards to abortion.  However, does a candidate's stand on abortion really mean they have more of a heart for God's heart than the other candidate?

My point is that a candidate's public stance on political issues, including political moral issues, is usually based on solidifying their political base.  A pro-life, pro-traditional marriage candidate may have no more desire to seek God's will than the pro-choice, pro-gay marriage candidate.  Only God knows their heart.

The good news is that while it is our duty to cast our vote and do our work as Americans and Christians, we don't really choose our next president.  God chooses.

Psalms 135:6 (ESV)
⁶ Whatever the Lord pleases, he does, in heaven and on earth, in the seas and all deeps.

On November 5, regardless of the election outcome (although we may not know the outcome for months if it is close), celebrate the victory.  Praise God who is sovereign over all.  God chooses the kings and God chooses the presidents.  Praise God but also pray for His mercy.  Pray for our country.  Pray for our new leader.  Pray of a Nineveh style revival (Jonah 3:6-10).

The Question Song

1 Timothy 4:12 (ESV)

¹² Let no one despise you for your youth, but set the believers an example in speech, in conduct, in love, in faith, in purity.

My ten year-old son wrote this song about his internal wrestling with what it means to truly follow Jesus.  I thank God that He has blessed me with a son that has a heart that is seeking Jesus so deeply at such a young age.  I pray God equips me to disciple my children as they seek Him.

Why do I hurt a lot of people?

I know it's all a sin

But I have to remember, once Jesus was my age

And he never gave in.

Why do I have answers to questions

But I only answer them to me?

And then I see a lot of non-Christians

I don't know where I should be.

I wanna care

And I want to love

But it's just so hard to do.

I don't want to give in

And I don't want to die

All that I want to do is fly.

I only have one question for God

That if there's so much trouble on earth

Why in the world would he leave it be

When he can do something.

But I'm afraid

That he just might

Fire that question

Right back at me.

I don't want to give in

I don't want to die

I wanna love and care

And I don't know why.

I have a little voice

That wants me to

It's asking if I will

And I want to say I do.

I'm getting all confused

If I could say I do

If I should or not

Or if it's even true.

I think I should stop

And just not do it

Or maybe I'll keep going

On and on through it.

I just don't know

If I should go.

Out of Africa: Prayer for the Fatherless

Psalms 10:17-18 (ESV)

¹⁷ O Lord, you hear the desire of the afflicted; you will strengthen their heart; you will incline your ear ¹⁸ to do justice to the fatherless and the oppressed, so that man who is of the earth may strike terror no more.

There are no good stories behind how one becomes an orphan.  However, there is something extra repulsive when a child becomes an orphan by the hand of man's hate.

This is the story throughout Liberia and in particular in the Fairfield Baptist Mission orphanage in Liberia.  Every child in this orphanage is a war orphan.  This was a war of hate which is often the root of most wars.  However, as I listened to the people talk about the war, it was clear that in this war, there was no side on the side of justice.

Prince

My third night at the orphanage (still on my own) I hung out on the back porch with the teenage boys.  One of them had a cell phone.  Cell phones are abundant in Liberia.  One may not have bread on the table but still have a cell phone.  Nobody was making any calls.  My guess is that there are rarely any minutes available on this phone.  We were all sitting around listening to the musical ring tones like you might expect to see a bunch of teenagers doing in the US sitting around a boom box.

They were laughing, singing, dancing and making fun of each other like teenage boys do.  I decided that I would share some American music with them so I pulled out my iPod and let them listen to Toby Mac.  I did not have speakers so the boys took turns listening on the headphones.  Toby Mac was a big hit.  However, the bigger hit was the pictures on my iPod.

As we huddled around sharing the headphones, we browsed through my family pictures.  These boys were all excited to see pictures of my kids and my wife.  There was not a sense of sadness of seeing pictures of a family they did not have.  I sensed more a presence of hope.  A hope that there was a world beyond the orphanage where there were moms and dads and families.

A young man named Prince told me that he did not have a mom and dad.  He told me that the president killed them both.  I knew he meant in the war of hate, the government soldiers killed his parents.  I have no idea why, but why does not matter when a 10-year old boy has his parents killed by his government.

Prince is 15 now and has been without a mom or dad for 5 years.  He told me that night, that now I was his dad since he did not have one.  I was his dad, why?  Because I had shared some music and pictures?  No, because I was there which meant to him, I must care.

Prince did not ask to come home with me.  He only asked me for some flip flops.  His had busted.  There is a real sense of needs versus wants when you visit a country buried in poverty.  "I have an American visiting and he wants to know what he can do for me.  I'll ask for my hearts desire, a new pair of flip flops."  Is that the request I would get from a typical teenage boy in America?

Moses

Moses was with us as we looked at the pictures.  Being the celebrity that had actually been to America, he started to tell the other boys how great America was and how bad Liberia was.  This did not go over well with Maude and she rightly admonished him that he should not talk that way about his country, a country she has chosen to stay in to care for children like himself.

Moses does not like to be corrected (do you know any other thirteen year olds like that?).  His emotions that he had been keeping in came out.  He wept in the midst of his friends for most of the rest of the night.  It was heart wrenching.

The good news is that the next day we had a successful visit with a lawyer in Monrovia.  There is a Liberian family in our church in Cypress that wants to adopt Moses.  This lawyer was fairly confident that he would be able to get the paperwork through a system that had been bogged down to this point as Liberia investigates child trafficking problems.

One of the reasons he was confident in our success was the legitimacy earned by bringing Moses back when his medical visa expired.  While Moses does not understand why we had to take him back (he asked my why I did not just call the President and explain his situation) it pays to honor God by following the laws of the land.

Pastor Anthony and I correspond each week.  He says he is praying with Moses and helping Moses to understand and learn patience waiting on God.  This is a hard lesson for us grown-ups.  It has to seem like an impossible task to a 13-year old boy.

Princess

We met Princess my last day at the orphanage.  We were eating with the kids in their lunch hall (a dark mud-brick building with two long tables for 70 kids).  A 9-year old girl came over to Pastor Bill.  Unlike all of the other children here, Princess was not wearing a smile.  As soon as she came over, Pastor Bill began to cry (I can't even write this without tears).  He explained to us that she had seen rebel soldiers kill her parents.  In fact, she witnessed a rebel soldier slice her dad's throat from behind.  Princess was 4 at the time.

The boys and girls in this orphanage are well fed thanks to Christian Aid.  However, Christian Aid can only supply food for 50 children as Liberian law only allows 50 orphans per orphanage.  There are 75 orphans being cared for by the Fairfield Baptist Mission in Liberia.  Nonetheless, all the children are fed.

The needs are great.  At one level, the needs seem too great and too overwhelming.  However, when you ask the children what they need the answers are simple.  A matchbox car, a baby doll, but really a request that someone knows they exist.  I can't tell you how many of these kids wanted to make sure I knew their name and wanted to know my name, my wife's name and my children's names.  They want to be connected.

Our church is working with an organization called BrightPoint to do just that.  Our goal is to match up every child in the orphanage with a family sponsor in our church.  A family that they can call their own.  A family that will know their name, pray for them and write them.  They want a mom and dad because "man who is of the earth" stole theirs .  We hope that together with Bright Point, God can use us to bring them that desire of their heart.

If you or your church want to get involved and reach out to the fatherless and the oppressed you can do it.  Check out organizations like BrightPoint and Children's HopeChest.  There is really no reason to ignore the fatherless, whether in Africa or your own backyard.

However, I must warn you.  Once you open up your heart to hear what is on God's heart, your life cannot ever be the same again.  There is no telling what God will have you do.

My journey is now leading me back to Africa once more.  This time, Ethiopia, where God has a fatherless child that he has prepared for our home, to change our lives forever.  Read more over at Hipp is my middle name.

Out of Africa: Vision and Hope

Romans 15:13 (ESV)

¹³ May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound in hope.

I am not sure what I expected in Liberia.  I had seen some pictures of the orphanage and I knew it was a vastly different world than my home.  I knew Liberia was one of the poorest countries in the world.



On one hand, I was not surprised.  The poverty in Liberia was as extreme as the pictures.  On the other hand, there was something beyond the pictures that God wanted me to see.  It was the people God wanted me to meet.

Anthony had started working for Fairfield Baptist Church Liberia in May.  He was hired as a teacher at the school.  However, the head pastor, Pastor Bill, had quickly realized that Anthony was a man that could not only teach the children, he could preach the Word.  Actually, Anthony had been preaching for various churches for ten years, since he was seventeen.

Pastor Anthony and I spent most of my first day in Liberia together.  He took me around the school and introduced me to the kids and the teachers.  He and Pastor Bill drove me into town to check-in with the embassy (which ended up being closed).  I got to see Monrovia and Painesville in the daylight after driving through in the dark the night before.

After our errands, I joined Pastor Anthony for a bible study.  Actually, he had prepared a bible study for his adult bible study class and wanted to practice it on me.  It was just me and Anthony and God's Word.  That's what the bible study was about, God's Word and God's vision.

Pastor Anthony has a passion for God's Word that is contagious.  He also has a vision.  A vision for taking God's Word to a community desperate for hope.  A vision for taking God's Word to a country devastated by war.  A vision for taking God's Word throughout an entire continent.

This is a big vision for an assistant Pastor in a small church in Liberia.  An assistant pastor that had his formal education cut short by a civil war.  A small church with about fifty active adult members.

This is vision reserved for big American churches, isn't it?  Churches with money. American churches with with a mandate from God to spread the Gospel throughout the world.  Missionaries are supposed to be sent to Liberia, not out of Liberia.  Right?

Brother Johnson is a former superintendent of one of the counties in Liberia.  He's a deacon at the church.  I'm not sure of Brother Johnson's age.  If I had to guess, I would say he's in his late seventies.  I don't guess this age because he looks like an old man.  I guess this age by the wisdom in his words.  Sometimes you can just feel the wisdom of the years from people as you visit with them.

Brother Johnson has a vision as well.  He has a vision for a rebuilt Liberia.  I sat on the porch with Brother Johnson and a man named Frank and learned of his vision.  A vision for starting a community farm so that the community, and eventually the country, can start producing it's own food.  He tells me anything you plant in Liberia will grow but that the country imports most of its food.  If the ships don't bring the food, the people don't eat.

Frank attends the small Liberian church and he is the owner of a small construction company.  His company won the bid to install the $12,000 security fence that the government required around the orphanage.  One of our purposes of our visit to Liberia was to inspect their work and make the final payment.

Frank has a vision for his country recovering from the catastrophe of war.  Frank is living out that vision with the fence building project.  A dozen young men had work putting in this new fence for the orphanage.  I don't know when these men will have a job this big again.  However, they are living with hope with men like Frank leading the way.

Of course there was also Pastor Bill and his wife Maude.  A couple that has given the last ten years of their life to this small church, school, and orphanage.  Bill and Maude also have a vision.  Their vision is to educate the children and to teach them about the hope in Christ.  They're not looking to have seventy orphans adopted and sent to America.  Their vision is for seventy orphans to receive love and hope and grow up to help rebuild their country.

As I sat there listening to Pastor Anthony teach me my second bible study, the sustenance of God, I understood why God wanted me in Liberia and why he wanted me there for two days by myself.  God wanted me to meet the people.  He wanted me to meet His people.  He wanted me to meet brothers and sisters in Christ with His vision and His hope.

I've lost about a third of my 401k this year.  Most of that in the past week.  I'm not alone.  Many Americans are seeing their vision and their hope diminish before their eyes.  It does not take a lot of imagination anymore to see what could happen to our own country, whether by divine punishment or just reaping what we sow.

The good news is the Good News.  No matter what happens, Jesus is Lord.  No matter what happens, Jesus still died for my sins and rose again.  No matter what happens, like my brothers and sisters in Liberia, I can have a vision and hope focused on on the cross.

Out of Africa: The Journey Begins...

Proverbs 19:21 (ESV)
²¹ Many are the plans in the mind of a man, but it is the purpose of the Lord that will stand.

There is so much to write about my trip to Liberia.  Yet I am finding it hard get everything out that has gone on inside me during my trip.  I thought one way that might help is to chronicle my trip over 2-3 posts and see where that leads me.

Three of us from our church made the trip to Liberia.  Pastor Jim, our head pastor, Charlie, an engineer to inspect a fence that was being built, and me.  My role on this trip was to escort Moses back.

Moses and I had to take a different route than Pastor Jim and Charlie.  We had to travel on Moses' return ticket route that would take us through Chicago and a 8 hour layover.  The others had a more direct route with just a short hour layover in Frankfurt before Brussels.  The plans were to meet up in Brussels and all fly on the same flight to Monrovia.

In Chicago, Moses and I took a train downtown to kill some time.  I needed to buy an extra pair of pants for the trip so we found our way to Macy's.  We were quite a pair walking around Macy's carrying backpacks and a small duffel bag.  I'm sure there were plenty of security eyes following us around the store.

The trip downtown did manage to burn the layover time for us.  For me, it was a lot of walking and riding in a crowded Chicago train and not a great site seeing adventure.  To  Moses it was a blast.  He mentioned through out the trip how much fun he had on our excursion into Chicago.  His joy in the trip made the layover worth it.

From Chicago we flew directly to Brussels to meet up with Pastor Jim and Charlie.  It was a packed plane but we were able to settle in for a non-eventful flight.  I had plenty of time to read the book I had with me, Don't Waste Your Life by John Piper.

Don't Waste Your Life is about living your life for the glory of God.  There were some challenging chapters in this book as you can probably imagine.  One of the more challenging topics was living for the glory of God during trials and testing of your faith.  I was soon about to have the opportunity to live this challenge out.

In Brussels Moses and I found our connecting gate and started our wait for the others.  Their flight was about 2 hours behind ours.  Their flight landed on time at 10:30am.  At 11:00am Moses and I started eagerly staring down the terminal corridor waiting for our friends.

Our flight from Brussels to Monrovia was scheduled to leave at 12:30pm.  At noon, Moses and I started boarding our plane, with no Pastor Jim or Charlie in sight.

Here I was about to fly to Liberia with Moses but all by myself.  It was obvious Pastor Jim and Charlie had missed a connection somewhere.  I had no idea where and no way to find out.  My cell phone did not have international access.  As I got on the plane I prayed, "Lord, I have no idea what you have planned here but I glorify your name."  This was a prayer of faith, not feelings.  My feelings were more like, "Lord, what are you doing here?  This is not what we had planned!"

I was not too concerned at this point.  I figured Pastor Jim and Charlie had missed a connection and would be on the next flight down.  What I did not realize at the time was that the Brussels to Monrovia flight is only every other day.  I was about to get two whole days by myself in a Liberian orphanage where the only person I knew was Moses.

There was that thought again...God wants to show me something and he wants my undivided attention.

Things got a little dicey when we arrived in Liberia.  I did not know the address or phone number for the orphanage.  Moses did, and people from the church were at the airport waiting for us, however this did not help me as I sat in the customs office by myself.  Customs officials aren't too keen when you arrive without any idea of where you are going to visit.

Fortunately, God was good, as always.  The Customs officials eventually took pity on me and let me go.  The prayer going through my head while I waited my fate was, "to God be the glory...wherever this leads".  Again, it's not what I felt but it was what I prayed.

Once I made it out I found Moses and we found a bus load of orphans outside the airport ready to give Moses a hero's welcome.  His friends were excited to have him home and excited about his new hand.  It was a great welcoming.

It was about an hour drive from the airport to the orphanage.  On the way we passed through streets that were so packed with people that traffic was often stopped trying to make it's way through the pedestrians.  The folks I was with seemed nice enough but they were strangers nonetheless.  Here I was thousands of miles from home, by myself, and no way to call home.  It was quite an E.T. experience.

That night as I laid in a very nice guest bed, in an orphanage somewhere in Liberia, reality was creeping in on me.  I had found out by now that the others would not be arriving for two more days.  I'm by myself.  Alone in Africa.  I felt nauseous as the stress began to weigh in.  "God, what are you doing?"

Out of Africa: Behind the Scene

Revelation 21:1-4 (ESV)

¹ Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more. ² And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. ³ And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, "Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God. ⁴ He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning nor crying nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away."

I was sitting in a small church in Maude Town, Liberia this past Sunday wondering what I would say if I was asked to speak to the congregation.  I'd been in Liberia for four days.  My head was full of thoughts, most of them disjointed.  What if they asked their American visitors to share a few words?  What should I say?  What could I say?



The thought that came to me as I was sitting there was God's promise of a new heaven and a new earth.  This is a wonderful promise from God.  Yet to this point in my life, I'd had a pretty shallow appreciation for this promise.  After all, this current earth has not been that bad for me.  I certainly have not been in a hurry to leave it.

However, as the images of this war torn country ran through my head, I could really appreciate the beauty of this promise.  This new appreciation was much more than just seeing the tin shacks and dirt roads full of craters that made up the landscape.  It was the potential beauty that you could see behind the scenes.  In my minds eye, if I just took an eraser and erased the shacks and the garbage and the craters, what was left was a landscape that looked like a paradise.

Well, I was asked to speak to this small congregation of brothers and sisters in Christ.  I started to talk about my time with Moses and how much my family loved him and then I started crying like a baby.  I cried because I not only loved Moses but because I loved all these people.  However, these were not necessarily tears of sorrow for my new friends.  These were tears of love and tears of pride for my new found family in Christ.

I composed myself and shared Revelation 21:1-4 with the church.  I wasn't sharing anything they did not already know.  What I was sharing was that now I know what this promise means.

There is much more to write about my trip.  Many of my thoughts are still disjointed.  I'll share more in the days and weeks to come.

Back to Liberia - For now

Genesis 50:20 (ESV)
²⁰ As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good, to bring it about that many people should be kept alive, as they are today.

I don't know why I was born healthy and have enjoyed a life of physical and material blessings here in America.  I don't know why Moses Kollie was born in poverty in Liberia.  I don't know why his mother was killed by rebels when he was only weeks old.  I don't know why God let Moses lay trapped under his dead mother for a week causing him to live his childhood with a deformed hand.

Children obey your parents

Ephesians 6:1-3 (ESV)

¹ Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right. ² "Honor your father and mother" (this is the first commandment with a promise), ³ "that it may go well with you and that you may live long in the land."

The bible is very clear about admonishing children to obey their parents.  In fact, this precept made God's top 10 list.  Most people that read this blog may say "Amen" to this commandment, as many of us are parents.  But, why is this precept so important to God?

I can think of a couple of reasons.  One is that a rebellious heart is a sinful heart and rebellion often starts in the home.  While all children of all ages should be obedient to their parents, I think this commandment is especially directed at older children, those that are starting to reach adulthood and starting to think they know more than mom and dad.

God first gave this command to the Israelites.  He knew that the new generations would be tempted by the other peoples in their land.  He had warned their parents to teach their children about Him and how He led them out of Egypt.  However, if the children did not care to listen to their parents, these lessons would be lost.  As you read the book of Judges you see this happening on an ongoing cycle.

What about us older children?  Do we still honor and obey our parents or are we exempt once we get married and have our own children?  I think as mature adults it is easy for us to forget the wisdom of our parents.

The other reason I think this command is so important to God is because if we do not honor our earthly fathers and mothers, we may have a hard time honoring our heavenly Father.  How often do we choose our own way over God's ways?

A couple of other points about my thoughts on this passage...

Sometimes, parents can be ungodly parents, even evil parents.  It's a sad and shameful reality of our broken world.  I had loving parents so it is hard for me to imagine the pain of those whose parents really let them down.  I think God would still have us honor our parents regardless of the pain they may have caused.  However, I know that is easy for me to say, not having to experience that kind of pain myself.

The other point I want to make about this passage is the commentary added by Paul.  He says this is the first commandment with a promise.  Just what is this promise?

Some translations like the NIV and even NASB read the promise as, "that it may go well with you and that you may enjoy long life on the earth."  This makes it sound like a promise for a long life if you are an obedient child that honors your parents.  However, does this mean that children, teenagers, or young adults that die at a young age were disobedient and dishonoring to their parents?

Paul is quoting Exodus 20:12 here, which is actually being given as the sixth of the ten commandments.   The promise is that if the young Israelites obey and honor their parents it will go well for them in the new land.  Even in the NIV and NASB the word used is land rather than earth in Exodus.  I think this makes the ESV version more accurate and we should assume that Paul is quoting the commandment as stated in the Old Testament.

So the promise is not a long life on earth but a long life in the land.  As mentioned above, we find the young Israelites unable to live up to this commandment and all is not well for Israel.

The point is that this is not necessarily a "promise" for every child that obedience and honoring your parents will lead to a long life.  An early death does not mean a young person was a rebellious child.  That said, I do think this is a Christian principle.  A child that obeys and honors his parents will have a life that honors God, regardless of the the number of days on this earth.  A rebellious, disobedient child that dishonors his or her parents is more likely to have a life that can lead to an early destruction, again, regardless of the number of days on this earth.

Y-IKE-S!

Hello world... We're still hanging in there. We had one large tree come down but it landed in the driveway and missed our house. I have many co-workers that were not so lucky. Ike was not nice to the trees around here.

We don't have any power. However, our local power company expects to have us up this week. Those further east in Conroe could be without power for 2-4 weeks.

We have one generator that we switch back and forth from the well pump to the refrigerator. It's like camping all over again.

We thank God that we're doing well and praying for those close by that are not doing so well. Keep the Houston area in your prayers.

Grace and peace y'all.

Tony

When wisdom calls

Proverbs 1:26-28 (ESV)
²⁶ I also will laugh at your calamity; I will mock when terror strikes you, ²⁷ when terror strikes you like a storm and your calamity comes like a whirlwind, when distress and anguish come upon you. ²⁸ Then they will call upon me, but I will not answer; they will seek me diligently but will not find me.

I confess.  I actually searched the scriptures for a passage that I could use with this awesome picture.  Our family was camping this week at Inks Lake near Burnet, TX.  This is a picture I took of my 9-year-old daughter hamming it up as a twister headed our way over the lake.  This funnel cloud fizzled out before it reached us so we were able to avoid taking cover in the public restroom.

We left the lake after our camping trip and we're back in Hockley Texas, 85 miles from the coast and in the direct cross-hairs of Ike.  Needless to say, I will not have any of my children out posing for pictures in the sustained 80+ mph winds on Saturday.  We'll be hunkered down with our windows boarded up.

Please pray for those much closer to the coast.  It looks like this is going to be a nasty one.

Back to today's scripture...

This passage in Proverbs is referring to the call of wisdom and what happens to those that ignore it.  The wisdom is the Gospel.  The message from God to a fallen and sinful people that there is hope, if only you turn from your own selfish, prideful, evil desires and turn to God.  A God that gave his own Son to pay the price for our sins.  A Son that has been raised for our justification and to be our King.

The verses above are for those that refuse this wisdom.  Proverbs 1:22 tells us the ones that refuse this wisdom are the simple, the scoffers and the fools.  However, I don't think it is for me to assume that anyone is in one of these categories and is refusing the wisdom of God.

This Proverb says that wisdom is crying aloud in the noisy streets and in the market (Proverbs 1:20-21).  The point is that those ignoring God's wisdom cannot claim they have never heard it.  However, the wisdom of this world is also very loud and often much more appealing to our human nature.  Rather than assuming that those that do not know Jesus as their Lord are simple, scoffers or fools, I should do what I can to help deliver this message of wisdom so that it can be heard.

If I plan on sharing this wisdom through billboards, bumper stickers, or tee-shirts, the message is blurred in with all of the other messages in this world.  If I want to help someone understand the message of wisdom from God, the best place to usually do that is where they can hear me, where God's words are the only message ringing in their ears.

What's the best way to deliver this type of message? 

In person, as a friend, as someone that cares.

There are people that will hear the Gospel among the clutter and noise in our world and find God's truth.  However, there are many that cannot pick out the message over all the other noise around them.  If I have this wisdom, I should look for ways to share it so that others can actually hear it.

Let God decide who is simple, a scoffer and a fool.  I should see everyone who has not yet found the wisdom of the Gospel as a future brother or sister in Christ.  I should see them waiting for someone to love them enough to share God's wisdom, in person, as a friend, as someone that really cares.

Romans 10:14 (ESV)
¹⁴ But how are they to call on him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone preaching?